All Things Must End

We are back in Glasgow. After over a year of planning and dreaming, the Kemisters and the Stones have almost finished their grand tour of the western Isles of Scotland; a celebration of 46 years of marriage and friendship.We have shared new experiences, seen new sights and met new people.

From the historian on the Isle of Man who took us on a private tour of a viking ship burial site; to the Professor of Gerontology running a tiny cafe in Kames Scotland, who believed that no generation after ours would die of old age; to the ladies who tackled a Pimms drink in the Bridgend Hotel even though they had never heard of it; to the interim pastor from Banff, Scotland who would only come to the island of Islay to preach if he had a return ticket. It was a rich tapestry of humanity.

Today we explored the People's Palace in Glasgow. In front of the Royal Doulton fountain, the largest terracotta fountain in the world, we took our last foursome shot.

Speaking of a rich tapestry of humanity. Check out the Rousseau and Voltaire bookshop in Glasgow.

Dorian took us today to visit this amazing place. Books piled on books upon books. So Sheelagh has the bright idea to ask Rousseau or Voltaire, we don't know which, where she could find books on the Antarctic. She wanted to get a little gift for John to lug home. R or V vaguely waved a hand toward the shelves and suggested that there should be something there somewhere. And she found it!! She found two!!! But how to get them? R or V mumbled, "We used to be able to get up there." The other one, the smaller, more agile one, began to scale the books and got them just before the pile collapsed. He then had to rebuild it. 

We went for tea in a tiny, weird tea house.

John and Von leave to make their long journey home this Thursday. Sheelagh and I will spend another week with our Scottish son before starting our journey homeward.

With this we wish you farewell. Thanks to everyone who came in for a look . We hope that you enjoyed our adventures. 

The Holy, Holy Isle

With the unpredictable weather and the need to take two ferries, we have not been able to reach Iona until yesterday. It's strange, but the people in the ferry ticket offices are quick to say that the ferries have been cancelled. But in reality they are running. We just went to the terminal and asked to get on yesterday morning and we were squeezed on by the crew.

The first leg takes you from Oban to the Isle Mull. That part is about an hour. We then have to drive across Mull to Fiornphort, about 1 and 1/2 hours, to catch the little 10 minute crossing to Iona. The road is single track and takes you through highland like country which is golden brown. Thanks to John and Von for that picture.

It was grey but dry on the way over.

Iona, THE Holy Isle, is very small and exists pretty much for the Abbey. We had left without breakfast so lunch happened first. Then the walk over grassland to the spot where St Columba built his first church as a Holy site to uphold the Christian faith.

It was very blowy by now and we were bundled up and head down as we approached.

This structure has been added to and replaced since the 500's AD. So it is a mixture of 1100 to 1800 with subtle signs of the older still to be seen. 

 The church is still in use by the local people and as such is protected in some areas. 

 The cloisters are intact from the 1100 era. They are a lovely peaceful place that the monks used for their work and quiet reflection.

The two main crosses are in the little museum and are the oldest relics of the abbey. The first is St Oran's Cross, the first high cross. And St John's, the first ringed cross. Both from the 700's. The Isle was a great centre of learning and writing. The Book of Kells, which we saw in Dublin 3 years ago, was written here. As it became more populated, it became target for those pesky Vikings. Frequent attacks by those guys caused the Abbey to disperse about 1000 years ago. In the 1100's the Benedictines moved onto the site and rebuilt.

Just being there was such a moving experience. We spent about 2 hours, each on our own, just looking and thinking of the history and the work of these early saints. 

Oh,The Irony! The Irony!

We woke this morning to find we had gained our own river, lake, and waterfall.
It has been raining for 3 days straight.

However, we were not going to let a little water stop our outing today. As we are castle folk, we went to visit our neighbouring castle folk, The Duke and Duchess of Argyll, at Inveraray Castle.

Unfortunately, they were called away suddenly, but we were welcomed in nonetheless.

After a lovely lunch and a look around, we started back to our castle. Just after we come through the Hole in the Wall, on our way up the drive,

we pass an ugly, boarded up building. We have since learned that this is a very historical place. It was where TAT-1 came ashore in 1956. What is TAT-1, you may ask? The Trans Atlantic Telephone cable joining the UK with Clarenville, Newfoundland and on to the US. After the Cuban Missile crisis, it  also carried the hotline between the White House and the Kremlin.

It was in service for 20 years. John was dying to get inside, especially when he found out there was a tunnel into the rock behind.

The irony is that telephone calls went out of here for 20 years and now, in 2018, we can't get a signal!

The Hole In The Wall

All of the weather gurus are predicting a wild and wooly Sunday and perhaps Monday as well. So, most of the Island's visitors were gathered at the ferry terminal in advance of the Saturday departure. We had booked ourselves in for a Saturday morning breakfast at the hotel next door. The sun was streaming through the windows as we ate and we had plenty of time to sip our coffee/tea/hot water/fruit juice.

We had packed the car before breakfast so we were able to go for a drive around one more time before the boat arrived.  There are graveyards around the island, many with graves of unknown seamen who died trying to get ashore from sunken vessels.

Because this was by far the sunniest day that we had seen since our arrival, we revisited a particularly lovely beach.

And then we tried to find an abandoned fishing village that Shush had read about.




One thing about Colonsay is the lack of signs. We had to guess where the village was and Sheelagh came very close. The hills were very damp and since Shush had only sneakers to wear, we didn't quite make it to the little line of abandoned cottages that we later saw from the ferry. We did however reach a couple of lonely roofless stone structures that made us all think of bygone families and past dreams. One thing that I learned was how heavy the rock is that they used in these houses. Such hard work!!!

Then on to the ferry and a beautiful crossing to Oban. We putted past many named and unnamed islets along the coast. It rained a bit and the sun shone a bit. It was really grand.

We are now back on the mainland. Oban is a picturesque seaside town with an active harbour. The ferries come and go regularly.

 As we approached Oban, we saw our castle.

 It'a a 16th century pile called Gallanch, a bit south of town. You can google it. Charlie the owner, umpteenth duke of something, is away until Wednesday. It's nice digs . We're here in the servants' quarters all alone by ourselves. Trevor and Pauline, who live in the gate house, let us in and gave us wood for the fire.

We felt like the "Hole in the Wall Gang" as we drove up to the house.

Bits And Pieces Round Colonsay

We've given quite a bit of thought to what it would be like to live here. You would need to be a very self sufficient person or couple.

Sheep are a big part of the island economy.  We saw a select few being moved down to a pen by the harbour in anticipation of going by ferry to fates unknown. The farmer suggested that the "Boys" may fare worse than the "Girls".

We have now driven every road on the island in the last 24 hours. There is one circular route that passes the airport and school and golf course.

 The only flight of the day had been cancelled due to weather, and the course was deserted and rather forlorn looking. But there is life here and we are just a week too early to experience the Colonsay Food Festival.

The roads are very narrow and differ in roughness from one foot to the next. Yesterday it took us about an hour to go around the loop stopping to look at things. The skies were grey and it rained on and off. We also passed the big house, home of the 5th Baron of Strathcona and Mount Royal. The1st Baron was Donald Smith. Every school child in Canada sees the picture of him driving home "The Last Spike" of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie, BC. In 1905, he bought Colonsay and Oransay from Clan MacNeil

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Today we did the other road out to The Strand where you can cross to Oronsay, another Holy Isle that has a priory built by St Columba. At low tide, you can walk or drive across the Strand. However, the tide today didn't give us the time to do the 5 mile hike round trip to see the Priory. It was sunny and it was beautiful to explore the shoreline at the crossing point.

We then went the other way around the loop road stopping to see the garden of Colonsay House.

We have booked in for breakfast at the hotel next door before we leave tomorrow morning.

From Quiet To Quieter

Islay slipped into the mist and the ferry rocked just enough to send Sheelagh out into the air of the deck. We were leaving our third island. It had been a pleasant few days at a leisurely pace.

Colonsay, number four, is smaller and to the northwest of Islay. We will be here for three days and the routines will slow even more.

There is a very small population of 150. The village, Scalasaig, that is shown in this picture, is the largest. The island looks different than Islay, in as much as it has a central peak. It is more treed and quite beautiful. The beaches look wonderful even in the grey skied day.

Our rental house, Maggie Thomson's Cottage, just up the hill from the ferry, is very comfortable.

The highlight for me is the glass room where we sit to read or watch TV.

John, in particular, is thrilled that there are birds around, and he heard cows and roosters this morning. Life is showing itself. 

There are 8 things to do here we are told. We shall see if we can find them.

Whisky And Crosses

Islay is world famous for it's whisky. Everyone knew that but us. We've met people from all over on a whisky tour today. There are about ten distilleries on the island and we went to Lagavulin to have a tour and a dram.

It was really interesting. We weren't allowed to take many pictures. These are the pear shaped copper stills distinctive to this distillery.

And this is inside the warehouse, containing the barrels including a barrel of 69 year old whisky that will be bottled next year. Our guide said it will be sold at 2,000 GBP per bottle.

The man in the warehouse had been working there for 48 years. When I asked him if he drank it, he answered, "Does a cat drink milk?"

Some of us took our dram home in little bottles. One of us settled right in.

Then we went driving around the north end of the island stopping here and there. One stop was at the WWI graves at Kilchoman. There are 70 graves, 43 not identified. 

Another stop was at Kilnave to view the cross carved in 750 AD from one piece of slate.

So the cross was standing to witness the events of 1598 when the Macleans and MacDonalds went at it to settle who owned the surrounding land. The Macleans outnumbered the MacDonalds but their leader, Lachlan, did not follow the advice given to him by the Wise Woman of Mull. She said don't land on Islay on a Thursday; stay away from Loch Gruinart; and don't drink from the well of Strange Neil. Lachlan did all three. And at the well, he was shot through the head by the archer, Dubh Sith. With the loss of their leader, the rest of the Macleans fled to the church for sanctuary. The MacDonalds set fire to the thatched roof and that was the end of the Macleans. Moral of the story? Never ignore the advice of the Wise Woman, aka your mother.

We finally dragged Von into a grave yard. She has been ignoring her responsibility to all her genealogy friends and merrily driving by each churchyard.

Our last stop was to enjoy the wonderful light.